Beneath The Wreckage
by LilyGhost
Summary: Despite being trapped in a seemingly hopeless situation, Ranger and Stephanie still find something to cling to. Told from Ranger's POV.
**This story is the result of a request/challenge from ShellSueD to write a 'trapped together' Babe story with a HEA, sprinkling in a few of her favorite characters. The familiar ones belong to Janet. 'Ozzy' and 'Dallas' belong to ShellSueD. The mistakes and the rest of the story are mine. Warnings for a teeny bit of smut.**

The explosion had been loud and entirely predicted, but that didn't stop me from rushing into the warehouse before it blew because I knew Stephanie was somewhere inside it. The absolute silence after the blast had been more deafening to me than the sound of the explosives going off.

On those sleepless nights when I give into thoughts on how I'm likely to die, my mind always drifts instead to how I'd prefer to spend my last moments on earth ... on top of Stephanie, but I never wanted them to be _her_ last moments as well. Getting a call saying my life is just about to go up in flames, had me pausing because I knew my car hadn't been tampered with. Then I realized that Gorgan had correctly interpreted that Stephanie is 'my life', which had me running blindly into a death trap to get her out of it.

We've survived so far, but are effectively trapped in what's left of the building. There's a massive support beam that took out what used to be the ceiling, landing square across the area where we were standing seconds before I yanked Stephanie to the floor and covered as much of her as I could with my body.

I couldn't have stopped a ten-foot long, four-hundred pound piece of steel from crushing us both, but my instinct was to protect her even if we didn't have a fucking chance in hell of surviving. We did though, barely, but a positive outcome to this situation is unlikely.

We had just enough room to shift to our sides to face each other, but the immediate area around - and above - us is packed with fallen debris, which I had to be grateful for since that's what the beam had caught on, preventing it from completely flattening us. I can't find fault with having Stephanie's plastered to mine, but I don't like the reason that led to our current position.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, tensing the arms I have around her because I needed the added assurance that she's okay.

"I think so. I banged my head when you threw me to the floor and I'm pretty sure I'll have bruises from how tightly you're holding me."

"I'm sorry," I said, though I'm not the least bit sorry about anything regarding her except that she got caught up in a years-long vendetta.

"No, you're not," she accused, "or you would've loosened your hold by now."

"A few bruises are a small price to pay for knowing that you're alive, Babe."

"I can't agree more ... and thank you."

I pressed my lips to her dirty temple. "You're welcome."

"This wasn't my fault."

"I know. It's mine."

Her eyes opened wide. "Do you know Catalin?"

"Only that he's the skip you were after, but I have ties to the man who used him to get you here."

"Is it Gorgan? I heard Connie mention that Catalin worked for the mob he headed at one point."

"That's him."

She let out a sigh. "So this was a message to you?"

"Looks like."

"Crap."

"Yeah, that about sums it up. But he didn't foresee me getting to you before the building blew."

"How did that happen?"

"Gorgan managed to get me on my private line and hinted at the danger you were in."

"At least he didn't get to explode us ... which I'm guessing is what he was hoping to accomplish."

"Yes."

It was a definite trap ... a very effective one.

Her head moved as much as it could as she took in our surroundings, which seemed like something straight out of an apocalypse flick.

"Can you do something?" She asked, always believing I'll get her out of harm's way.

"What would you like me to do?"

"I don't know. Maybe you could drill a Batman-sized hole through the earth with your mind, or scatter crap using only your eyes, and get us the hell out of here."

"Despite the rumors, I'm just a man ... one who wasn't born with superpowers."

She snorted at that.

"None, that involve mind-drilling," I corrected.

She smiled, but then her grin slowly died and her face froze. "So we're really stuck here?"

"I'm afraid so," I told her.

"But the guys should be showing up soon to dig us out ... right?"

While it warmed something inside me to know that she immediately thought of _my_ team as the next ones in line to save her, they can't this time.

"Ranger?" She pressed, when I'd gone quiet. "The guys know where we are, don't they?"

"No."

That one syllable sounded so final, it destroyed whatever hope she had left.

"When I heard that you were lured here with only minutes before explosives would be detonated, I didn't think of anything except getting you out of here, which is ironic since we're both now trapped."

"But we're not dead, that's a plus."

It is, but it won't be for long.

"I'm not going to cry," she said after a few beats of heavy silence, as she came to grips with the hopelessness of the situation.

"Thank you."

Few things disturb me more than seeing tears stream uncontrollably down her face.

"I am about five minutes away from completely flipping out, though."

"No one would blame you if you did," I told her.

"But I don't want to. I need a distraction."

"Such as?"

I know what I'd like to do, but she doesn't see how dire the situation is to think of sex as the only way to possibly forget.

"Tell me why you came right to me instead of doing what you tell every single one of your employees, including me, to do ... about never rushing onto a scene without knowing all the facts and having adequate backup."

"I think you already know the answer to that," I said, trying to stretch my body to make us a little more comfortable.

My hips pressed into hers and I heard her swift intake of air. She's as aware of me as I am of her. Unfortunately, that hitch in her breathing had her inhaling some particles of dust still flying around, and she started to violently cough.

"Easy, Babe," I told her, threading my fingers through her curls, doing what I could to comfort her until her lungs cleared again.

It took longer than I would've liked, but slowly she went from choking to mild throat-clearing. I wiped the dampness from her eyes with the cleanest part of my t-shirt I could find. The tears could be due to the coughing fit or her realizing that this really may be the end for us. There's a slight chance someone heard the blast, but it's doubtful they would've reported it. My gut says both are extremely unlikely given the location of the suspiciously empty warehouse.

"I'm okay," she said, after another few minutes where we heard nothing except more building material falling.

I brushed a curl away from her face. "I love you, Steph."

Her eyes slid shut at my words and then popped right back open. "I know you do, and you've proven that you'll follow me into any part of hell I wind up in. A river, a psycho's set up, exploding building ..."

"I told you I'd come whenever you need me. There were no specifications or expectations placed on that."

"So you don't mind dying here with me? That's what you're afraid is going to happen, isn't it?"

I'd feel like a total asshole if I say yes to that, so I focused on the first question.

"I'd prefer immortality with you, but if it's my time to go, there's no one I'd rather go out with."

Her lips smiled slightly. "You picked a crappy time to tell me that."

"As you've pointed out ... we're not dead yet."

"Tell me this, if we could get out of this, would we do anything different?"

I replayed the last hour of my life ... the bone-chilling fear I'd experienced when I knew she was in trouble, and the almost paralyzing relief I felt when I found her, alive and unharmed, poking around one of the offices right before the warehouse came crashing down on us.

"Yes," I answered.

"What?"

"Everything. We would do _everything_ differently."

I was equally dismayed and pissed off as I watched her eyes fill up. She blinked quickly, trying to dispel the moisture, but two tears made tracks down her dusty face. It's a curious phenomenon, but I can never watch her suffer without doing what I can to stop it.

I caught her face in my hands and let my mouth slowly descend, giving her the chance to turn her head away or to push on my chest to stop me. She didn't. When I was close enough to feel her breath warming my lips, her fingers slid into my hair and she held onto whatever comfort I could provide.

I settled my mouth on hers and swept my tongue inside her when she opened to me. I could feel more tears transfer from her skin to mine, as she came to the conclusion that this will likely be our last time together. Even then ... she didn't stop kissing me.

Her hands went to the buttons on my dress shirt. She deliberately undid each one while I pushed her t-shirt up to her shoulders and unclipped her bra so I could cup her breasts in my hands. I worked her nipples first with my fingers, then my mouth, as the sounds she made went from distressed to aroused. She returned the favor on me before sliding her hands back down my body to the buckle on my belt. She didn't waste any movements or time. She freed me from my dress pants, and in the few inches we had between us, she stroked me until I could no longer think of anything except her.

There wasn't a hell of a lot of room to maneuver, but I managed to get her jeans far enough down to facilitate our mutual goal. I pulled her leg over my hip and slid into her. I held her as tightly as I could as I rocked us towards a different kind of heaven.

As phenomenal as the sex is between us, I'll almost miss the moments that follow our climaxes more ... when our bodies are completely relaxed and so are our defenses against each other.

"I never said it out loud, but I love you, too, you know," she said, in the stillness after I helped her get dressed again.

If we have another chance, getting her undressed a second - or God willing a third - time, would distract us both. I also knew she'd die all over again in mortification if her body was discovered naked.

"I was stupid to never tell you," she continued.

"You didn't have to, Babe. It was clear to everyone that you did, me and Morelli included."

"But we wasted so much time ..."

"That may be true, but had we gotten together sooner, we could've fucked up our relationship by now. We don't have a good track record. I'd much rather die with you knowing that you're essentially everything to me."

"Shit. It's entirely possible that I might start full-on crying any second now."

I gently brushed her hair back and pressed my lips to hers before smiling slightly against her mouth.

"I don't want you to cry, but I can handle it if you need to."

"Thanks for the permission, but I refuse to ruin this moment by blubbering like an idiot."

I kissed her again because I lacked the words to make this alright for her. It was eerily quiet after that, like the misleading sense of calm before a storm hit, but we figured out fast that there is nothing as loud as past regrets when you know there's no chance to correct them. Stephanie's hands were alternately wringing the hem of my shirt nervously and massaging my skin underneath it almost in apology the longer we laid there.

I was guessing at least twenty minutes had passed when there was a faint scratching noise that made her tense.

"Please tell me that isn't the sound of rats on their way here for dinner."

I grinned at her, identifying the noise. "If they are, they're genetically-enhanced rats ... and they're coming straight for us." At her horrified expression, I explained. "Someone's digging through the rubble."

"Good guys or bad ones?"

"I'll take my chances with either."

" _Hello?!_ " We heard ten minutes after that.

I mentally sifted through the voices of everyone I've associated with and came up with the face that belonged to it.

" _We're in the back_ office, _Dallas!_ " I called back.

" _Dallas?_ " Steph asked. "New Rangeguy?"

"No. Seasoned Rangeguy from Boston's branch."

"Remind me to kiss him as soon as he gets us free."

"That's not happening, Babe. He kisses you _ever_... and I promise you, he'll be missing half his head a second later."

"But he's here to save us and _I'd_ be kissing _him_."

 _I_ kissed her to block out thoughts of any other man. When I separated our lips, it was to issue a clear warning.

"I told you things would be different if we got out of here, and that starts now. I'm the _only_ man you get to kiss."

She was smiling wide. "I have no problem with that."

" _Ranger?!_ " This was from Hector, now about forty feet from where we are.

" _We're two rooms over, but the ceiling was taken out, the doors with it!"_

" _Is Stephanie with you?!_ " Zip asked.

I knew he wouldn't be far from Hector's side during this particular search and rescue mission.

" _Yeah_!" said the woman herself. _"I can't complain at all about the company, but I wouldn't mind getting the heck out of here with him!_ "

I heard a deeper voice and knew who had joined the party.

"What?" Steph asked me, noticing the change in my expression, however slight.

"Unless I'm mistaken, Dallas didn't come to Trenton alone."

"You're never 'mistaken'. Crap. Tank's brother is here, too? I remember you mentioning he's one of your Boston guys."

"He is. And now he's here."

"Where's Tank?"

"Probably right beside him trying to ignore his existence."

"I thought you said no one knew we were here?" She asked.

"No one did to my knowledge." Dust and sparks had started flying close enough to cause us both to cough this time. "Looks like we'll find out in a few minutes how they did."

It took a lot of digging and even more cursing, but they managed to reach us faster than I'd expected. Steph was clearly relieved, for once the excitement making her body hum wasn't caused by me ... not entirely, anyway. I felt relief on many levels myself. We aren't going to die, we already said what we were both afraid of admitting, and we did consummate that commitment. We're _a fact_ now, no longer just a speculation. And better than that ... we're still alive to enjoy it.

"Nice of you to join us," I said dryly, as Tank's massive body sent a shadow over us.

"Hell of a place to pick for a date," he said back.

That was the end of the pleasantries. He started issuing orders to get us free. No surprise, he and Ozzy positioned themselves on opposite ends of the support beam. Hector took the middle of the metal, while Zip and Dallas focused their efforts on clearing a path through the wreckage for us to get out once we were no longer pinned down. The men are stronger than most on a normal day, and they're now being fueled by adrenaline, so we were being pulled out within fifteen minutes.

"Is there an ambulance outside?" I asked Tank.

"I've got our guys standing by, but I didn't call this into the TPD."

Tank wasn't sure what they'd find and he didn't want the police poking their noses in if retribution became a necessity. It definitely will be now that I'll have Stephanie with me in a secure building while I hunt Gorgan down. She doesn't know it yet, but I have no doubt I'll be able to coerce her into my building and completely out of hers a few days after.

"What are you doing here?" I asked my Boston hires. "If I didn't train you myself, I'd say your navigational skills suck and you ended up in the wrong state because of them."

Ozzy and Dallas looked at each other before Ozzy gave a shrug. "We had a weekend free and decided to drive here to check out how the competition does things."

No doubt he wanted to see his brother, even if it had to be from a physical and emotional distance.

"Are things here always this exciting?" Dallas asked.

"No," Steph said just as I answered " _Yes."_

"I want Stephanie checked out," I told Hector, knowing he's the go-to guy where she's concerned when I can't be, and I also need to talk to Tank without her hearing. "She hit her head and she needs to be looked at."

"I'll see that she is."

"Umm _, 'she'_ is right here," Steph said, glaring at us. "And she's fine. I just want a shower and a pineapple-upside-down cake ..."

"With extra whipped cream," Zip finished for her.

"Exactly."

"You can have both if you agree to come home with me," I told her.

"You're using unlimited hot water, your evil shower gel, and dessert, to get me at Rangeman?"

"Yes. I'll even throw in chocolate chip pancakes and hot chocolate, both made by Ella, for tomorrow morning's breakfast to seal the deal."

"Done. Now that the important details have been worked out, how did you guys know where we were?"

"Ranger missed a meeting," Zip told her. "And we all know he doesn't do anything off schedule unless it involves you."

Hector cut in at Stephanie's confused look. "We know what time he left the building to head to his lawyers, but he never made it there."

"My trackers were off," I pointed out.

"But Jacobi has known you for years," he continued. "And he understands that you don't waste people's time. When you weren't sitting across from him in his office, and he couldn't reach you by cell five minutes after, he called the control room."

"Once I realized that Hector was worried," Zip added, "I immediately called you, Steph, to see if Ranger was with you, but the line was dead. You two scared the shit out of us."

"Sorry," she said. "We didn't mean to."

"You never do," Hector told her.

" _You're_ the _only_ reason he'd cut out on an appointment," Zip said.

No one will ever know how important that meeting was. Stephanie quickly progressed from an amusement to a requirement. She's set to be inheriting a large share of Rangeman if something happens to me. That way she'll always have a job, men who will do anything to protect her, and a healthy bank account to make the most of her life even if I'm not there to share it with her. Marrying her would accomplish the same thing, something I've also contemplated as I lay wide awake at night, but I wanted it in writing _now_ , since our past shows we both become gun-shy whenever marriage is mentioned.

"I am?" She asked Zip, while cutting her eyes to me.

"Yes," I answered. "Nothing is more important to me than you are."

"I thought you guys were just fucking with us," Dallas said to my Trenton men, shoving an agitated hand through his already messy black hair, "but this really was a suicide mission, wasn't it?"

Hector gave him a slight nod while Zip used actual words. "Yeah. If Stephanie died, so would he."

We all fell silent at the truth of that until Steph once again tried to block out the fact that we may not have made it out of here if my men didn't know us so well.

"How did you go from the lawyer's call to us being _here_?" She asked.

"Connie," was all Hector would say.

Zip elaborated. "I've never been so glad to have a Burg gossip at our disposal."

"I bet she told you everything ... from what I had for lunch, to where I took off to in such a hurry," Steph said, a rueful smile on her lips, this time not minding being at the center of Connie's conversation.

"A large meatball sub from Pino's, and you received a tip that Catalin was spotted here," Hector filled in.

"He wasn't," she said, obviously still pissed that she'd been played in order to get back at me.

"Ozzy and Dallas showed up just as we were putting together a plan ..." Zip picked up.

" _Someone_ should've warned us they were coming," Tank said.

Zip glanced at him and then at Ozzy, but when neither brother said anything more, he continued to speak.

"So we used them along with our guys. We were planning to search all the buildings in the area in case you thought you were given the wrong info, but they shaved off a chunk of time so the guys could check out the other locations we'd pinpointed at the same time."

"We heard an explosion and immediately thought of you," Hector said, unfazed by Stephanie's sudden scowl. "And here we are."

"I should say thanks," she said, looking at Hector, "but I'm suddenly feeling a bit cranky."

"Almost getting blown up will do that to you, Babe," I said, pulling her close to drop a kiss to her dirt-covered curls.

"Yeah, I'm getting a little tired of that being a weekly occurrence."

"So are we," Hector added.

"I owe you all a beer for this," I told my men.

"Nah ... you can skip the beer, I want a wedding invite instead," Ozzy said.

"Someone's getting married?" Steph asked. "One of _my_ guys? Or are you talking about someone in Boston?"

"He's talking about you and the boss," Dallas explained.

"Me and Ranger?" She choked out, the environment not having anything to do with her throat closing up this time.

"Ignore him," Tank all but snarled. "He doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. As usual."

"And you still see only what you want to ..." Ozzy said back.

Ozzy and Tank are similar in appearance, vastly different in personality - Ozzy's more laid-back whereas I would hesitate in calling Tank civilized most days, but they're basically the same person when they think they're right about something.

"Umm, guys?" Steph said, stepping into an old wound between the siblings. "Ranger and I aren't dead ... so can we just focus on that? Unless you'd like to fill us in on what the heck happened with you two?"

It was suddenly quieter than it was right after the blast. Zip is second only to Stephanie in wanting to smooth any ruffled feathers, so he drew her attention to him and off the brothers.

"How about we discuss your _future_ wedding instead of their _past_?" Zip asked.

"We could, but there's _no_ wedding to talk about ... right, Ranger?"

I was feeling pretty good about still being alive, so I gave into the urge to play with her. I didn't say anything, neither confirming nor denying the comment.

" _Ranger_..." she said, a hint of warning in her tone.

Hector made an amused sound which had Zip nudging him in the stomach with his elbow to get him to stop.

"Yeah, Babe?"

She narrowed her eyes and locked them on my face. I was expecting a swing at my head or a punch to the kidneys for messing with her, but she smiled instead. A terrifyingly evil smile.

"I vote for September," she said, as all the men went statue-still while watching us.

A trickle of unease slid down my spine, not unlike it had just before I answered the call telling me she was used as bait to get me here.

"September?" I asked.

"Yep. June is too predictable for a wedding and Fall is my favorite season, so I say we get married in September, since you clearly weren't objecting to the idea. September's in between Summer and Fall. If we're lucky, we'll have warm temperatures and maybe a few of the trees will be starting to change."

The noise that bounced off the wreckage of the building was due to the men's jaws all dropping at once. Hector and I are the only ones whose expressions didn't change, but we both went still for different reasons. He was surprised that she'd even consider marriage again, while I was shocked that I didn't feel any apprehension even with a potential date picked out.

She burst out laughing, which broke us all out of our heads. " _Gotcha_ ," she said. "God, you guys are so easy. I had you mentally dreading the suits you'd be forced to wear, didn't I? You should know by now not to tease me. Payback is a bitch."

"Ya know, if the boss doesn't want to marry you," Dallas told her, an annoyingly charming glint in his green eyes, "I'll do it."

"Tank," I barked, "get him out of here."

Everyone relaxed. I didn't immediately shoot Dallas, Tank and Ozzy were back to ignoring each other, and we are in fact still alive. Today could've gone a lot of different ways. This particular ending could be called the ideal one.

The men started to file out with Dallas taking point, followed by Ozzy. Hector studied us before turning his head to take in the current smile Zip was giving us despite the day we've all had. Relaxing his features finally, he hooked an arm around Zip's neck and led his own reason for living out of what was left of the warehouse.

Tank was last. I know he was giving his brother time to depart, but he was also hanging back to get an affirmative nod from me that we'd be meeting as soon as I get Stephanie settled in my apartment to plan an attack of our own on Gorgan ... and every single person who'd been involved in this. After giving us another once-over, determining we won't need help walking out, he gave us a few minutes alone before we'd be surrounded by the rest of the men who'd been in on the search.

"They're a fun bunch," Stephanie said, watching Tank leave as I circled her waist and pulled her tight to me. "I shouldn't have screwed with them after they rescued us and all. I probably owe them more than a beer."

"There's only one way I can see to make it up to them," I said, wondering what the hell has gotten into me.

I really don't need to ask that. Almost losing her had me terrified of exactly that happening.

" _What?_ " She asked. "I should also buy them pizza and doughnuts to wash the beer down with?"

"No," I told her, supporting her body as she climbed up, stepped over, and slid on, the remaining debris. "You can choose a day in September."

She stopped so suddenly I would have plowed into her if I hadn't been expected it. She looked over her shoulder and stared at me much like the men had been staring at her moments before.

"I was kidding," she finally said.

"I know, Babe. But I'm not."

 **A/N: This story feels like it could have another chapter or two to it, so I've already added it to my 'To be continued' list. :)**


End file.
